He Didn’t Wait for a Role. He Created One.

Jacob Walbert didn’t launch Pagoda Search to “change the recruiting industry.” He started it because he knew exactly how it felt to be on the other side of the interview process—getting ghosted, misrepresented, and overlooked. And he thought there had to be a better way.

“There’s always going to be pain in job hunting,” he says. “But I’ve been that person hoping to hear back before the weekend, sitting on it, unable to be present with friends or family. I know how much that silence weighs on you.”

Jake had been in sales for six years. He’d done stints in pharmaceutical sales at Merck, crushed his quota at ADP, explored commercial real estate, and held down software and data sales jobs at startups and giants like Moody’s. Each time he jumped, it was deliberate—more money, better opportunity, a chance to try something new. But none of it stuck.

“I was trying to find something that felt right,” he says. “And I just kept coming back to how much I liked helping people find jobs. People had been telling me for years I’d make a great recruiter. Eventually, I listened.”

He spent a full year trying to land a role in recruiting. Reached out to staffing firms, explored executive search, interviewed with companies placing roles in industries like construction and manufacturing. None of it clicked. But all of that networking gave him a playbook—and an idea.

Jake didn’t get the recruiting job. So he built one for himself.

He launched Pagoda Search, a recruiting firm focused solely on placing top sales talent in cybersecurity. He didn’t come from cyber. He didn’t even have a background in recruiting. But he knew sales. He knew what made a top rep tick. And more importantly, he understood the candidate experience better than most people ever would.

“I’ve sold to sales leaders. I’ve been a candidate. I know the difference between good and bad recruiting,” he says. “And I knew that was something I could offer from day one.”

The decision to focus on cybersecurity was strategic. He wanted to stand out—and cyber was a market that wasn’t going anywhere, even in a down economy. But just as important as his niche was his mindset: Jake knew he wasn’t going to out-volume the big firms. He wasn’t going to chase fees. He was going to play the long game.

“A lot of these reps I’m placing are going to become sales leaders,” he says. “If I treat them right now, they’ll come back when it’s time to build a team. That’s how I’m thinking about it.”

Pagoda Search is still early—just a few months in—but Jake hasn’t wasted a single day. Before he ever pitched a client, he spent weeks making sure everything looked professional. Contracts reviewed by a lawyer. Website built. Brand colors picked intentionally to resonate with the cyber industry. CRM and ATS tools set up and tested.

“I didn’t want someone to take a meeting with me and feel like I didn’t have my act together,” he says. “From day one, I wanted to be credible.”

Now that the foundation is built, it’s a sales job again. Jake cold calls daily. Sends cold emails. Blocks off time to build his presence on LinkedIn, even when it feels uncomfortable. He tracks his pipeline on a whiteboard he looks at every day. He treats it like any other quota-carrying role—except this time, the target is his own business.

“I didn’t want to go public with it right away,” he says. “I didn’t want praise for just setting up an LLC. I wanted to earn it. To land my first client. To prove that it works.”

He’s getting closer. And he’s not doing it alone.

He’s leaned hard on people a few steps ahead. Sent DMs. Scheduled calls. Asked questions. “I’ve got a few folks I go to regularly now,” he says. “They’ve built solo recruiting firms. They know what works and what doesn’t. It shortens the learning curve so much.”

Eventually, Jake wants to do more than recruiting. He’s toying with the idea of a community for top cyber sales talent. Or maybe a content series where he interviews CISOs from the perspective of a salesperson. But he’s holding himself accountable to the present: build a foundation, stay focused, land the first deal.

“At first, this was about lifestyle. I just wanted to replace my income and work for myself,” he says. “But now I’m starting to see the bigger picture. There’s a lot more I can build here.”

It’s still early. But Jake isn’t waiting around for someone to give him permission. He already knows how to sell. Now, he’s just selling something he actually believes in.

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